Hatem Ben Arfa waited, unmarked, on the right wing but Cheik Tioté ignored him and instead hit an optimistic pass towards a crowded penalty area. When Crystal Palace cleared with ease, Newcastle United's most creative player turned to the bench and shrugged.

Some senior professionals at St James' Park believe Ben Arfa is not so much a luxury as a liability, low on work-rate and discipline. Alan Pardew – absent here, serving the second game of his stadium ban – shares a few of their misgivings.

Yet Newcastle's manager also knows Ben Arfa is a game changer, a match-winner and, via a half-time telephone chat, he and John Carver, his assistant, agreed that, if things were still level with an hour gone, Carver would bring him off the bench.

As the ground's electronic clock flicked to 59 minutes, he duly trotted on and Tony Pulis's staff immediately issued Palace with a barrage of urgent tactical instructions. A little over half an hour later two excellent Ben Arfa crosses had created Newcastle's best chances of the afternoon for the much improved Papiss Cissé who, deep in stoppage time, headed the winner.

Pulis believed Cissé's goal was only scored because the referee delayed 40 seconds too long before blowing the final whistle and remains convinced his side should have been awarded a penalty after Mike Williamson's perceived late handball, but he did acknowledge Palace were up against it for the last 30 minutes.

"We were very good for an hour," said the visiting manager. "Then we started tiring." It was perhaps no coincidence that such fatigue crept in once Ben Arfa began transmitting ripples of expectation throughout the stadium every time he assumed possession and began utilising a wonderful imagination.

Admittedly he sometimes tried to beat one man too many or picked the wrong pass but his talent frightened a Palace team who had coped relatively comfortably with the largely uninspired industry of Newcastle's "hard-working" stalwarts such as Moussa Sissoko.

Granted, Ben Arfa's fitness has left something to be desired this season – although maybe his hamstring surgery last spring was more debilitating than advertised – but with Yohan Cabaye departed and the QPR loanee striker Loïc Rémy set to leave in May, Pardew's best hope of avoiding impending mediocrity is surely reconstructing his side around the winger's mercurial talents.

Such a plan may not go down a storm in the dressing room but a collective rapprochement with Ben Arfa seems imperative. "Hatem's like Chris Waddle, a maverick, a flair player," said Carver, who was suitably delighted to win on an afternoon when Newcastle's owner, Mike Ashley, watched his first match at St James' Park since September. "Today Hatem was really focused. He actually listened to my instructions and did what we asked.

"He's been out for some time with injury and he's been back home with his mother because she was ill but I've actually been getting on quite well with Hatem recently, probably the best I've got on with him. I've had a chance to sit down with him and talk and he's quite a nice guy when you have a real conversation about family and life, nothing to do with football. It's brought us closer together. You've got to get inside Hatem's head. You've got to give him a cuddle."

Although Carver thought 17th-placed Palace "parked the bus – or three buses – in front of their goal" while pursuing a single point, Pulis's team did create a few chances. By their standards, they were appreciably more adventurous than when drawing 0-0 at Sunderland the previous week.